Phishing is a trick which scammers use to obtain your personal data for their own use – most often, with bad intentions in mind.
Today, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore reported that a phishing scam is going around, involving fraudulent emails sent to unfortunately-selected members of the public.
IRAS said that it has received complaints about the scam emails, which the agency believes contains a virus.
The emails mimic IRAS’ email address ending with “@iras@give.sg”, so as to make them seem legitimate.
Those who receive the email are informed that they are eligible to redeem a certain amount of tax refund.
They are then instructed to click on a link to download and fill in a “tax refund form”, or requested to open a file attachment.
There are 3 types of scams involved: promises of money for little or no effort, deals that sound too good to be true, and peculiar e-mail addresses and website URLs.
IRAS has advised the public not to open links or attachments in the scam emails as they may contain a virus.
The agency says it does not send out official e-mails from personal accounts such as Hotmail, Gmail, or other unfamiliar domains.
It added that e-mail replies are usually signed off with an officer’s name, designation and contact information.
Anyone who has received a suspicious e-mail, letter, SMS or phone call purportedly from the Iras is advised to contact the agency immediately at iras@iras.gov.sg or on 1800 356 8225 to verify its authenticity.
